Efforts to evolve wireless communication networks for supporting new types of devices and their associated applications include so called “enhanced coverage” techniques, with an eye towards extending network coverage for devices situated in challenging signal environments. Consider Machine Type Communication, MTC, devices, for example, such as networked sensors or meters. Such devices oftentimes operate in indoors installations, such as in basements or other areas where it is difficult to receive wireless signals from the network within the signal-level ranges associated with “normal” coverage scenarios.
Here, it shall be appreciated that wireless communication networks and the devices intended for operation in such networks are designed to work with defined ranges of received signal strength and those ranges define the “normal” coverage provided by the network. Enhanced coverage allows devices to operate with lower-than-normal signal levels, which effectively extends the coverage area of the network, albeit with certain additional challenges.
For example, it is recognized herein that the System Information, SI, acquisition procedure defined in the Third Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, Release 12 specifications for “Category 0” User Equipments, UEs, will not work for a UE operating as an enhanced MTC, eMTC, device according to the enhanced-coverage provisions of the 3GPP Release 13 specifications. A key difference in this case involves the number of “repetitions” needed by the eMTC device to acquire the SI of a neighboring cell, in instances where the eMTC device is operating under enhanced coverage with respect to the neighboring cell. Because of the lower than normal received signal strength associated with its operation under enhanced coverage, the eMTC device needs multiple receptions of the neighbor-cell SI.
In turn, “tuning” the radio circuitry of the eMTC device to the neighbor cell for multiple reception instances extends the time during which the eMTC device is not available for scheduled transmissions in its serving cell(s). For example, the eMTC device may be a low-complexity device that is not capable of full duplex operation and is not capable of tuning to more than one cell at a time. Here, typical items of SI needed to determine the Cell Global Identifier, CGI, of the neighbor cell include the Master Information Block, MIB, and the System Information Block 1, SIB1, and the contemplated SI acquisition may involve intra-frequency, inter-frequency, or inter-RAT acquisition, where “RAT” denotes Radio Access Technology. As a further problem, neighbor-cell SI reporting may be delayed in cases where the reporting device is operating under enhanced coverage with respect to the involved cell.